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Maniac on Netflix: here's everything you need to know

Everything you need to know about the trippy new Netflix series starring Emma Stone and Jonah Hill

Maniac, Netflix
'Once you begin to appreciate the structure of the mind, there's no reason to believe that anything about us can't be changed. Pain can be destroyed. The mind can be solved.'

Right. Sorry – what exactly are you on about? Maniac, the trippy new Netflix series has – for obvious reasons (Emma Stone and Jonah Hill) – been garnering lots of attention.

And so naturally, Netflix has responded to this mounting interest by telling us very little. A few stills and a one-line sentence was practically all that was released by the streaming platform, until finally a trailer arrived to give us some insight. Watch it below.


So what's this weird and wonderful TV show about?

'Maniac is the story of two strangers who find themselves caught up in a mind-bending pharmaceutical trial gone awry,' says Netflix. Ah, OK. So Emma Stone and Jonah Hill, the famous Superbad duo, are dressed in greying jumpsuits and sat in a white-washed room as part of a medical experiment. Got it.



In the teaser trailer (below) we had perfect symmetry and bright delightful colours that gave off the feeling of a Wes Anderson touch. But the full length trailer gives us something else – pain, fear and most importantly chaos, as our protagonists suffer the side-effects of this weird drug trial that throws them into 'some multi-reality brain magic shit'.

Who is in the Maniac cast?


There's an exciting team behind the comedy. Directed by Cary Fukunaga (who was director / producer on Beasts of No Nation, Sin Nombre and It) Maniac sees Stone and Hill joined by Justin Theroux, Julia Garner, Jemima Kirke and Sally Field.



What is Maniac about?


The ten-episode show is a black psychological comedy based on a 2014 Norwegian satire of the same name. It follows Annie (Stone) who obsesses aimlessly on her broken relationships with her mother and sister, whilst Owen (Hill), the son of a wealthy New York industrialist, struggles with what is possibly schizophrenia.

Broken dreams and disappointing lives have lead them here – to the place of this new pharmaceutical treatment centre – where Dr. James K. Mantleray (Theroux) offers treatment for the mind that will solve whatever it is they're looking to heal (heartbreak, mental illness, etc.) without any side-effects... apparently.


Maniac is on Netflix now
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What Maniac on Netflix: here's everything you need to know
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